Daydreaming of Disney Blog

The Magic Kingdom is known for its afternoon parades and its latest is The Festival of Fantasy Parade. Many first time Disney-goers don't understand all the hype about the parades. After all, the majority of the characters in the parade you can meet one-on-one elsewhere in the park... but after watching it, they're completely enamored by the magical spectacle of it all.

The Festival of Fantasy Parade starts every afternoon at 2:00 between Adventureland and Frontierland and winds its way around the hub of the park and down Main Street USA. You can find the full route on your park map shown as a dotted red line.

It can be truly magical to watch the parade right in front of the castle, but be warned-everyone wants those spots too. If you don't like crowds, I recommend sitting in Adventureland near the Country Bear Jamboree. Plus, then when it ends, you can jump right on splash mountain, since the lines tend to go down during the parades!

For this post, I've broken up the parade by sections and outlined specifically what you'll see for each one. Which characters will be there, what the floats look like, you name it! Plus, I've included little things to spot on each float that you might miss if you're not looking hard enough.

About five minutes before the start of the parade, you'll see the Main Street Philharmonic march by, playing classics like the "Mickey Mouse Club March" and "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah". So be sure to get to your viewing spot early!

I love that the parade starts with an old-school marching band! It just brings Main Street to life!

To start off the parade, we have the princess float. Preceding the actual float, there are some lords and ladies who are beautifully dressed in gold. They dance along as the "Festival of Fantasy Theme" plays. Then, Belle and the Beast stand at the front of the float.

The center section of the float rotates, almost like a lazy Susan. On one side, we see Cinderella and Prince Charming, and on the other, some of her mice friends sewing her pink dress. And on the tail end of the float, there's another spinning platform, with Anna and Elsa on one side and Tiana and Naveen on the other. I think that the spinning platforms are a really ingenious way to fit a ton of characters onto one float!

Don't miss: The bluebirds holding up the ribbons above Cinderella's portion of the float, and Ray the lightning bug stuck in among the roses behind Tiana and Naveen.

Leading the parade are three royal couples dressed in gold.

I love that the princess float is covered in multicolored roses!

Anna and Elsa have covered their portion of the float in ice and snow, of course!

Finally! Tiana AND NAVEEN! Such underappreciated characters that don't get enough representation in the parks! I loved seeing them together in the parade!

Next up we see the Tangled float! Running ahead of the float is a giant inflatable Ulf, the miming thug. He is accompanied by four brightly costumed bar maids, presumably from the Snuggly Duckling. The float itself is incredible! Honestly, it's probably my favorite out of all the ones in this parade. It takes the form of a giant boat with Rapunzel at its helm. She, of course, has her frying pan at the ready, and she sings along to "I've Got a Dream" as she goes by. If you look closely, you'll notice that her braided hair twists through the entire float!

The main potion of the float is comprised of three giant pendulums that are fashioned to look like giant hammers and axes. Swinging on these, you'll find Flynn Rider and Maximus, plus two other ruffians. All in all, it's a fantastically dynamic float that beautifully captures the joy of Tangled.

Don't miss: The small thug on the top of the float leaping off of the moon.

Look at the details on these bar maids' dresses! So many ruffles!

Ulf is such a fun addition to the tangled portion of the parade. And since his costume is inflatable, he seems to bounce around whenever he walks!

The float, which looks like a giant boat, is so ornate and colorful! It was my favorite one in the parade!

Rapunzel is so adorable at the helm of the ship!

Flynn Rider and the thugs swing on giant hammers and axes. Doesn't Flynn look like he's having a blast?

The Little Mermaid float is one of the smallest in the parade, but it's still just as magical as the rest! The float is surround by dancers dressed as fish and shells whose costumes seem to sway back and forth like they're actually underwater! Ariel sits in a giant shell at the top of the float, which is pulled by Sebastian and his goldfish.

Don't miss: Flounder swimming around the top of the float!

This pink shell outfit was one of my favorites in the parade. Look at how much detail the costuming department put into it!

Ariel's float is so colorful and I loved that they got the conga fish to move in the exact same way that they do in the movie!

Next up is the Peter Pan float. But before that, we see the lost boys. I honestly don't know how these guys can make it through the whole parade because they don't just walk ahead of the float, they dance and tumble and literally jump through hoops! The float itself consists of a Skull Rock, the Jolly Roger flying over a rainbow, and Pixie Hollow. As far as characters go, they've got pretty much all of them! Peter Pan and Wendy steer the Jolly Roger, Captain Hook swings on an anchor below the rainbow, Tinker Bell sits on a giant flower in her hollow, and Mr. Smee and the crocodile follow behind.

Don't miss: The smoke firing out of the Jolly Roger's canons

The Lost Boys lead the Peter Pan section of the parade. Their tumbling and tricks are really impressive!

The Peter Pan float is designed to encompass some of the best sights of Neverland, including Skull Rock, the Jolly Roger, and Pixie Hollow.

Captain Hook swings from a giant anchor under the shimmering, mosaic covered rainbow.

Tinkerbell sits on the tail end of the float. I love that they surrounded her with giant flowers, so you get a sense of her true size as a fairy.

Following the Peter Pan float we see Mr. Smee. I'm so glad that they included him, because he is so rarely seen in the parks!

And wrapping up the Peter Pan section of the parade is the giant crocodile chasing after Mr. Smee.

The Brave float was another one of my favorites. I thought it was a bit odd that they gave such a huge float to just Merida, but it was such a cool float, I didn't mind! The float looks like a giant set of bagpipes! It's covered in plaid, celtic knots, and bows and arrows, of course. Leading this section are eight dancers in Scottish dresses and kilts. Their river dancing skills were very impressive and so fun to watch!

Don't miss: Merida's brothers as bears popping out of the top of the giant bagpipes.

I thought that it was kind of odd that an entire section of the parade was devoted to Brave, but hey, not complaining!

At Carnegie Mellon we celebrate Andrew Carnegie's Scottish Heritage excessively! So the giant bagpipe float made me feel right at home! (Side note- did you know that CMU is the only school in the US that offers graduate degrees in bagpiping?)

"I will ride. I will fly, chase the wind, and touch the sky..."

This is the most technically impressive float in the parade. It oozed steampunk vibes with its exposed metal skeleton, bolted up horns and legs the moved with the wheels of the float. Plus, it actually breathes fire! The float is accompanied by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Plus, Prince Philip, who tries to fight off giant dancers on stilts dressed in really creepy, thorny raven costumes. I was somewhat surprised, though, that Sleeping Beauty doesn't actually make an appearance.

Don't miss: See if you can spot the driver of the float sitting in the belly of the dragon.

The three fairies must have some sort of hover boards or something under their dresses, because they seem to float around, rather than walk.

The main spectacle of the Sleeping Beauty section of the parade is the giant Maleficent dragon.

Th giant dragon had a steampunk vibe to it. You could see the cast member steering it from its belly.

I loved this next section of the parade because it pays homage to the movies that Walt, himself, made. Plus, it includes a ton of characters! Running ahead of the float we have Snow White and all seven dwarfs, Alice, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, and Jiminy Cricket. Pinocchio sits at the front of the float, which is shaped like a giant purple whale. Sitting on the whale's tale is an adorable, little Dumbo.

Don't miss: Cleo, Geppetto's goldfish in a bowl behind Pinocchio, and Figaro, his cat, on top of the spinning portion of the float.

It was great to see all the dwarfs leading this section of the parade, since that was Walt's first movie.

I love when they let characters just walk around in the parade, rather than being up on the floats, because they get to interact with the crowds and with each other.

The parade ends with the classic Mickey gang. All your favorites are there- Goofy, Chip and Dale, Donald and Daisy, Pluto, and to wrap up the parade, mickey and Minnie in a giant hot air balloon float. The perfect ending to a perfect parade!

Don't miss: All the Fantasia references! I loved that they included the dancing ostriches and hippos and the baby pegasuses! If you've read my post about underrated Disney movies, you know how much I love Fantasia!

All the characters are decked out in bright rainbow outfits!

So how much do you love this parade? Just writing this post made me wish I was back in the Magic Kingdom watching it while eating a Mickey shaped ice cream sandwich! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have anything else to add!

Monica Toren

Monica Toren is a blogger for the Daydreaming of Disney Blog and a college architecture student at Carnegie Mellon University.

Welcome!

Hi! I'm Monica and I started the Daydreaming of Disney Blog to share Disney crafts, Disney vacation tips, and any other sides of my Disney obsession. I post weekly, so be sure to stop back often for new content! Read more...

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